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Calcium Lignosulfonate as a Depressant for Enhancing Flotation Separation of Covellite and Enargite

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Abstract

Arsenic contamination significantly affects the quality of copper concentrates, presenting challenges during smelting processes. Considering that covellite and enargite have similar surface properties, they are difficult to separate by flotation, resulting in copper concentrates with excessive levels of arsenic. To address this issue, this study systematically investigated the flotation separation of covellite and enargite in microflotation and bench-scale flotation tests using calcium lignosulfonate as a depressant, with the results indicating that calcium lignosulfonate can be used to separate covellite and enargite because it enables the separation of arsenic-bearing copper minerals into high- and low-arsenic (As 0.57%) copper concentrates. According to contact angle and adsorption tests, scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersive spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, the differential adsorption of calcium lignosulfonate onto covellite and enargite is the primary reason for their distinct flotation behaviors in the presence of calcium lignosulfonate. The selective depressive effect of calcium lignosulfonate provides a novel approach for improving the flotation separation of arsenic-bearing minerals from copper sulfide minerals.

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Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51804080).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Land Resource Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650093, China

    Rongping Lin & Quanjun Liu

  2. Zijin Mining Group Co., Ltd, Longyan, 364200, China

    Rongping Lin & Quanjun Liu

  3. Zijin School of Geology and Mining, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350108, China

    Rongdong Deng

Authors
  1. Rongping Lin
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  2. Quanjun Liu
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Contributions

RL: investigation, data curation, validation, visualization, investigation, and writing—original draft. QL: formal analysis, investigation, writing (review and editing), and visualization. RD: formal analysis, writing (review and editing), and funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to Rongdong Deng.

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Lin, R., Liu, Q. & Deng, R. Calcium Lignosulfonate as a Depressant for Enhancing Flotation Separation of Covellite and Enargite. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration 41, 1135–1144 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42461-024-00936-0

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